Buying guide
How to choose a pushchair for your baby
Start from your building’s stairs, your boot and your pavements, not from the model. Five questions that narrow the choice and four pushchairs at different budgets.
Buying guides
Choosing, without rushing
Four purchases deserve more than ten minutes of thought. For each one we wrote a guide that starts from the right questions and ends with a clear recommendation. Below them are the smaller choices – carrying, sleep, bathing, feeding, nappies, clothes, the home – and the planning guides: when, where from and whether it is worth buying at all.
The guides are meant to be read in order: first the car seat and the pushchair, because they are linked to each other and to the car you have, then the cot and, last, the monitor – the only one that can wait until after the birth. They all share the same structure: how to decide, what to check, a few examples at three budget levels and a conclusion.
If your situation is more specific – stairs without a lift, a small room, a city car – carry on with the recommendations by situation. And if you are only just starting, begin with the newborn checklist.
Buying guide
How to choose a car seat for your baby
What R129 (i-Size) means, how long your child stays rear-facing, ISOFIX or seat belt, and how to check that the seat fits your car.
Buying guide
How to choose a cot for your baby
Moses basket, co-sleeper or standard cot? The safe sleep rules we start from, what to check on the mattress and four options for different spaces and budgets.
Buying guide
How to choose a baby monitor
Do you need a monitor? The difference between audio, video with its own parent unit and Wi-Fi cameras, what it means for your family’s privacy, and four options.
The smaller choices
They cost less and are easier to swap, but they are still worth choosing with care. The guides below do not recommend models: they show you the types, what to check on each and what you can skip. Almost all of them can wait until after the birth – which is why they start with when, not which.
Buying guide
How to choose a baby carrier
Wrap, ring sling or ergonomic carrier? What the “M” position means, the five rules of safe carrying and why it’s worth trying one after the birth.
Buying guide
How to choose a high chair
You don’t need one before 6 months. The types of chair, why the footrest and harness matter, and how to tell if it’s easy to clean.
Buying guide
How to choose a sleeping bag for your baby
What TOG means, what thickness to choose by room temperature, how to check the size at the neck and what to dress your baby in underneath, so they don’t overheat.
Buying guide
How to choose a baby bath
Classic, folding or with a support? Choose by your bathroom and where you store it, not by the accessories. Plus the safety rules that matter more than the model.
Buying guide
How to choose bottles, a breast pump and a sterilizer
What you need depends on how you feed your baby, and you find that out after the birth. How many bottles to get, what pump to choose and whether a sterilizer is worth it.
Buying guide
How to choose nappies – disposable or cloth
Choose the size by weight and by how the nappy fits, not by age. How many you need at first, why you shouldn’t stockpile and what cloth nappies involve.
Buying guide
Newborn clothes – sizes and quantities
Size 56 or 62? How many bodysuits you need, which fabrics to choose, how to dress your baby indoors and outdoors, and why not to buy everything for the first month.
Buying guide
The baby care kit
Thermometer, saline, nasal aspirator, small scissors, gauze. What goes in the kit at home, how to choose a thermometer and what not to give your child without a doctor.
Buying guide
Home safety when your baby starts to move
What to secure before they roll, crawl and pull themselves up. Furniture fixed to the wall, stair gates and what to take out of their reach.
Buying guide
How to prepare your baby’s room
In the first months your baby sleeps in your room. What you actually need – somewhere to sleep, to change, storage, light and temperature – and what can wait.
Buying guide
What you need for weaning
A soft spoon, a suction bowl, an open cup and a pocket bib. What to buy for the first meals, what you do not need, and what to check for safety.
Buying guide
Toys for the first year
A baby needs few toys and a lot of you. What to choose by age, how to check safety and what to leave aside, from rattles to blocks.
Buying guide
Choosing a dummy – and whether you need one
A dummy isn't compulsory. If you use one – when to introduce it if you breastfeed, how to choose size and shape, how often to replace it and what never to do.
Buying guide
Travelling with a baby – car, plane, train
Breaks every two hours in the car, the car seat on a plane, documents for going abroad and what goes in your hand luggage. Plus where your baby sleeps when you arrive.
Buying guide
What you need for breastfeeding
Nursing bras, breast pads, a cream and a comfortable spot. What to buy beforehand, what to wait on, and how to pick a bra when you do not yet know your size.
Buying guide
Your baby’s first shoes
A child who is not walking does not need shoes. When to buy them, how to measure the foot, what a flexible sole means and why barefoot is best indoors.
Buying guide
Baby outdoors, summer and winter
How to dress your baby for a walk at −5 °C and at 30 °C, why not to cover the pushchair with a blanket in summer, and what to do about the sun in the first six months.
Buying guide
The playpen and the play space
A blanket on the floor is enough at first. When a playpen or a fenced-off play space makes sense, what to check for safety and why it is not somewhere to sit for hours.
Buying guide
First teeth – the brush, the toothpaste and teething
When the first tooth appears, which brush and how much toothpaste to use, what helps with teething and what to avoid – from amber necklaces to numbing gels.
Before you shop
The guides below do not recommend any model either. They help you decide what goes on the list, when and in what condition: new, second-hand or not at all. If you have only just heard the news, start with the shopping calendar.
Buying guide
The hospital bag
Three bags instead of one suitcase, your maternity hospital's list as a starting point, and the things almost everyone carries for nothing.
Buying guide
What not to buy for your baby
Three categories – what is not advised, what nobody uses and what only makes sense for some. Plus a simple rule for everything that is not on the list.
Buying guide
What to buy when, in pregnancy
What to choose in the second trimester, what has to be set up by week 36 and what can safely wait until after the birth.
Buying guide
What to buy second-hand for your baby
Pushchair and clothes, yes. Car seat and mattress, no. What to check on everything you are given or buy used, before it goes anywhere near your child.
Buying guide
Breathing sensor monitors – are they worth it?
What under-mattress pads, smart socks and cameras that “see” breathing measure, what paediatricians say about them, and who they might still make sense for.
Buying guide
What the first year with a baby costs
Where the money goes in the first year, which costs are one-off and which repeat monthly, plus five ways to spend less without giving up on safety.
Buying guide
The first weeks at home – what to prepare beforehand
Not just stuff – food in the freezer, who helps with what, where you change at night and which numbers to keep handy. A plan for the first weeks after maternity.
Buying guide
The baby gift list
How to make a gift list that actually helps. What to ask for, what you buy yourself, how to share it with relatives and how to say “no” gently to what you don’t need.
Buying guide
How to choose a maternity hospital
State or private, level of care, neonatal intensive care, birth partner, rooming-in. What to ask on the visit and what really matters.
Buying guide
How to choose a family doctor or paediatrician for your baby
The family doctor does the routine checks and national-programme vaccines; a paediatrician is optional. What to ask, when to choose and how to reach them at night.
Buying guide
What to buy in the first year, stage by stage
The newborn checklist covers the first weeks. What comes next at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months – from the bigger sleeping bag to the high chair and stair gates.
Buying guide
What to reuse for a second child
Most of what you had for the first child works again. What to check first – the car seat, the mattress –, what to buy new and what you need extra for two children.
Buying guide
What to buy for twins
Not everything is bought twice. What you double – car seats, sleeping spaces –, what you share, how quantities change and why you prepare earlier.
Buying guide
Maternity clothes – what you need
A few good pieces that also work after the birth are worth more than a wardrobe of maternity clothes. What to buy, when, and what to borrow or adapt from what you own.